Hidden Secrets
by Melissa Larkin
Summary: Eric and Annie's painful secret comes out


Hidden Secrets  
  
The silence in the Camden house was broken one spring night by Annie's cry. Her husband, Eric, immediately woke up and put his arms around his wife.  
  
"It's all right, honey," he murmured as he rocked Annie gently. "Was it the same dream?"  
  
"Yes," Annie said softly, as tears rolled down her cheeks. "It always happens this time of year." Eric continued to comfort Annie as their daughter, Lucy, walked past their door. She had heard Annie's cry but decided to ask her in the morning what had upset her.  
  
  
*************************************************************  
  
The next morning, Lucy waited until her other brothers and sisters had left the kitchen. As Annie was putting the breakfast dishes away, Lucy approached her.  
  
"Here Mom, let me help," she said, and placed a stack of dishes into the nearby cabinet.  
  
"Thanks, Luce," Annie replied, and affectionately rubbed her daughter's shoulder.   
  
"Mom? Can I ask you something?" Annie smiled at her middle daughter.  
  
"Luce, you can ask me anything," Annie replied warmly.  
  
"Okay," Lucy began hesitantly. "I heard you crying last night. What upset you?"  
  
"What were you doing up at that hour?" Lucy leaned against the kitchen counter.  
  
"I was hungry so I came downstairs for a snack. I was on my way back to my room when I heard you cry." Annie looked around the room in an effort to avoid Lucy's question.  
  
"It was nothing, sweetie. Just your run of the mill bad dream." Annie put the milk into the refrigerator, but Lucy didn't buy her answer.  
  
"I heard Dad say that it was the same dream. You've had this dream more than once, Mom," Lucy persisted. Annie turned around, angry at Lucy's insistence.  
  
"Lucy, do you understand that I don't want to talk about this? Please mind your own business." Annie slammed the refrigerator door and stormed out of the room. Lucy ran upstairs to find one of her siblings. She searched her room and found that Mary had gone out. Matt didn't live at home anymore, and Ruthie was too young to talk to about this. Lucy went to Simon's room and found him lying on the bed, Happy at his feet, listening to music.  
  
"Simon, we have to talk," Lucy began. Simon eyed his older sister.  
  
"Luce, I'm not loaning you any money," he said. "You still owe me $5 from last week."  
  
"It's not that," Lucy said. She entered the bedroom and closed the door and sat on the edge of Simon's bed. She absentmindedly began to pet Happy as she spoke. "Mom had a really bad dream last night, and Dad said that it was the same dream. What is she dreaming about that's upsetting her so much?" Simon frowned.  
  
"I don't know, but this isn't the first time it's happened, now that I think about it."   
  
"Really?" Lucy asked, now surprised. "You mean it's happened before? I never knew that."  
  
"You and Mary sleep up in the attic now, but around this time last year, I heard Mom crying in her sleep too. She said something about losing something she loved. I couldn't figure out what it was. I thought maybe she was having a dream about Grandma."  
  
"Maybe she was," Lucy replied. "But I just have this feeling that it was different this time."  
  
"I'm going to find out what it is," Simon said, and disappeared before Lucy could ask him what he planned to do.  
  
  
*************************************************************  
  
Simon walked downstairs and found Annie preparing to leave the house. He ran up to her.  
  
"Hey Mom, where are you going?" Annie avoided looking at Simon and picked up her keys.  
  
"Um, I've just got some errands to run. I'll be back in a little while. Keep an eye on Sam and David for me, okay?" Annie didn't wait for Simon's response and left the house. Simon waited until she backed the car out of the driveway, then grabbed his bike and bike helmet and carefully followed her down the street.  
  
  
*************************************************************  
  
Annie's car pulled into the Glen Oak cemetery. Simon rode up to the entrance gate on his bike and cautiously followed Annie until she stopped the car. Simon stepped off his bike and walked it to a nearby tree, where he stood and watched Annie. She got out of her car and walked over to a nearby headstone. She cleaned some leaves off of the ground near the headstone and then began to speak to nobody in particular.  
  
"Oh good, the flowers are blooming nicely," she said softly. "I know you'd love them, sweetie." Annie then spoke even more softly, and Simon strained his ears to hear her but couldn't. Annie stood up a few moments later, visibly upset, and Simon wanted to comfort her, but felt he should let her be alone. Annie got back into her car and slowly drove off. Simon waited until she was out of sight and then walked over to the headstone. He gasped at the sight in front of him. On the headstone read: "Rebecca Anne Camden, May 8, 1976. Beloved daughter of Eric and Annie."  
  
Simon knew what he had to do, and jumped onto his bike and pedaled home as fast as he could.  
  
  
*************************************************************  
  
Twenty minutes later, Lucy, Mary, Simon and Matt were gathered in Mary and Lucy's room. Simon had already told them about the headstone he had seen.  
  
"So Mom and Dad had a baby before they had me?" Matt asked, almost unable to believe what Simon had told him.  
  
"Look Matt, if you don't believe me, go to the cemetery and see," Simon replied. Matt put his arm around his younger brother.  
  
"I'm sorry, Simon. I do believe you. I just don't know why Mom and Dad never told me." Ruthie burst into the room at that moment. She had been curious as to why her older siblings were having some sort of private meeting and besides, she hated being left out. She had been listening outside the door and was shocked to hear that she had had another older sister who had died.  
  
"Why did you leave me out?" she cried. The other Camden kids looked at each other. True, Ruthie was ten, but she was incredibly smart. Perhaps they shouldn't have left her out.  
  
"Come here, Ruthie," Mary said, and Ruthie climbed onto the bed between her and Lucy. "We're sorry. We should've told you what was going on."  
  
"It's okay," Ruthie said. "I'm just sad that Mom and Dad had a baby that died." Lucy hugged her little sister.  
  
"We all are," she replied. "Imagine how much worse it must be for Mom and Dad. Today would've been Rebecca's 25th birthday."  
  
"I have to tell them that I know," Matt said. "It would be deceptive to let them think that we didn't."  
  
"I agree," Lucy said. Matt stood up and walked out of the room. The remaining kids looked at each other, anxious about what was about to happen.  
  
  
*************************************************************  
  
A few minutes later, Matt, Eric and Annie sat in the living room behind closed doors. Eric and Annie sat together on the sofa, and Matt paced around for a minute.  
  
"Matt, did you want to tell us something, or just pace?" Eric asked. Matt sat in the armchair and looked directly at his parents.  
  
"Mom, when you went out before, Simon followed you," Matt began. "He knows. We all do. About Rebecca." Annie felt tears well up in her eyes and Eric quickly took her hand. He fought back tears as he looked at Matt.  
  
"Rebecca was our first born child," Eric slowly explained. "She died a few hours after she was born."  
  
"I'm so sorry," Matt said, his own eyes filling with tears. Annie tried to compose herself to explain the situation.  
  
"I had a rough pregnancy," she started. "I went into labor when I was only six months along and the doctors did all they could to stop it, but I ended up delivering a premature baby. We named her Rebecca Anne, and she was so beautiful. But she died when she was six hours old."  
  
"I wish you had told me, but I understand why you couldn't," Matt said. He rose from the armchair and hugged Annie and Eric. "I am so sorry." Annie embraced her oldest son and kissed his forehead.  
  
"I love you, Matt." Matt smiled at his parents.   
  
"I love you. Maybe we should talk to the rest of the kids." Eric nodded, then opened the living room doors.  
  
"Guys, can you please come down here?" A moment later, Lucy, Mary, Ruthie and Simon were seated in the living room, and Annie and Eric explained again about her first born child. When she was done, there was barely a dry eye in the room.   
  
"We're sorry that we never told you about Rebecca," Eric said. "It was too difficult for us to talk about."  
  
"We'll never forget about her," Annie continued. "And your dad and I love you all very much." The kids all embraced Annie and Eric, and Annie looked at them. "We were blessed with such wonderful children." Annie hugged Eric then and looked at Lucy. "I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning, Luce." Lucy hugged Annie.  
  
"It's all right, Mom. I understand," Lucy said. Annie kissed her daughter's head.  
  
"I love you, sweetie," she said.  
  
"I love you, too," Lucy replied. The Camdens spent the night together, catching up and talking about what was going on in their lives, all feeling lucky to be part of a family that loved and cared about each other.  
  
****The End****  
  



End file.
